Well, the cameras are now rolling in India for Kathryn Bigelow's upcoming film, and controversy is already brewing. Of course, there is still that ongoing (and pointless) Pentagon investigation about whether or not Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal were leaked classified documents, but now a different kind of concern has hit the production.

Reports out of India reveal that radical group Vishva Hindu Parishad showed up on set, disrupting the filmmakers. Their concern seems to stem from a lack of understanding about how movies are made, angry that the Indian city of Chandigarh is being made to look like the Pakistani city of Lahore (the flimmakers were denied a permit to shoot in the latter). "They have made Chandigarh like Pakistan, as if it is Pakistan," said Vijay Bhardwaj, the leader of VHP. "We strongly oppose this and we will not let them put Pakistani flags here and we will not let them shoot for the film." Man, he should talk to New Yorkers about films set in Manhattan but shot in Toronto.

Anyway, word is that production is proceeding as usual, with talks ongoing to appease the VHP, so nothing to see here. Also in that same report from Reuters (via Deadline), a new working title has been revealed — "Zero Dark Thirty" — which is military speak for 30 minutes after midnight (roughly the time Seal Team 6 landed; Osama Bin Laden was killed shortly after 1 AM on May 2nd). Finally, and bear in mind this is ubsubstantiated and probably not true, but NDTV says that Brad Pitt has swooped in and shot a part in the movie. Sounds like BS, but who knows.

Comments

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad is one of the most rabid fundamentalist organizations active in India right now.
Unfortunately, they're responsible for far greater crimes- including murder- than what they're pulling on the set of this film.

"Man, he should talk to New Yorkers about films set in Manhattan but shot in Toronto." That's just ignorant Playlist. I trust you know about the cultural and religious conflicts between Pakistan and India so it's much deeper than Toronto serving as a temporary New York.